My Home Theater Page (3 Viewers)

Dave Moritz · Sep 24, 2023

Not 100% positive what will be purchased on my next shopping binge but here are some titles that may or may not make the next purchase. I may load up on some horror with October about a week away. Went online to set up The Princes Bride to return so all I need to do is drop it off tomorrow or Tuesday. Might pop over to Best Buy for The Expendables movies steelbook release. List may change at any time and may change due to pricing and availability.

I Know What You Did Last Summer - 4K Blu-ray
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer - 4K Blu-ray
Thunderbolt & Lightfoot - 4K Blu-ray
The Last House On The Left - 4K Blu-ray
Scream 3 - 4K Blu-ray
Scream 4 - 4K Blu-ray

The following movies I am looking at.

Witness
American Graffiti
The Fugitive

Mike Frezon · Sep 25, 2023

Dave:

When you have 4k titles come in to your collection, are you replacing any Blu versions? If so, are you culling them and removing them from your collection? Because it seems like you still have some of the older versions of your favorites still kicking around!

Dave Moritz · Sep 26, 2023

A few blurays have been kept in the collection but lately I have been adding more movies I have not owned before. There are some upgraded blurays and they get pulled and a few more dvd's getting upgraded. Am going to try and drop off The Princes Bride tonight so I will drop 1 4K bluray. You have me thinking about the count so I will try and recount the collection this weekend. I still have titles on DVD I have not gotten around to replacing yet with bluray copies and I actually have some tiltes on HD-DVD that need to make the jump to bluray. While I have not been getting rid of the disc themselves they get removed and for the time being kept as back up discs but they are being removed from the main collection. A few years before the pandemic I did take 2 or 3 small boxes of movies to a local store that purchased them and I basically took store credit and used it to buy two new records. Just seems you just do not get much for them selling them to a place that will buy them for resell.

Current Library
DVD 88
Bluray 257
4K bluray 469 (Sending back The Princess Bride) -1

Purchased today:

Thunderbolt And Lightfoot - 4K Bluray, 1st time purchase
I Know What You Did Last Summer - 4K Bluray, 1st time purchase
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer - 4K Bluray, 1st time purchase
The Last House On The Left - 4K Bluray, 1st time purchase
Robocop 2 - Bluray, 1st time purchase

Library after order arrives
DVD 88
Bluray 258
4K bluray 473

Library recount coming this weekend ! I need to go through my HD-DVD titles and add ones I really need in the collection since the player has not been usable for a few years now. Maybe I should start looking at buying used local for some titles if I can get them cheap?

Mike Frezon · Sep 26, 2023

Dave Moritz said:
Maybe I should start looking at buying used local for some titles if I can get them cheap?

I always look for that option...but am finding it harder and harder to find any places selling used discs.

Dave Moritz · Sep 30, 2023

Well I do have about 5 streaming services that are paid for and I do not watch alot of just here and there.

Max
Disney +
Netflix
Amazon Video
Paramount +
Apple TV / iTunes no monthly fee

I also have for music the following.

Amazon Music (Prime Member)
Pandora (Free Account)

I do have Spotify app installed on the phone but have not signed up for even the free account. My Marantz SR-8012 is compatible with music streaming but I have never used it for that. I will watch movies that I have purchased on iTunes and sometimes I will watch a movie I registered the digital code from the disc. That is if I have the Apple TV up and I do not see something I want to watch and do not feel like grabbing a disc. But eventually I will visit on of the apps and watch something. But music I just can not get into listening to music from a streaming service. I have the apps for Amazon Music and Pandora on the phone but if I listen to something it is physically stored on the phone and I use a small JBL speaker. We are able to listen to music at work and some of the coworkers will use a streaming service for music. And I guess because I have money going out for 5 streaming services already it is a decent factor in not paying for yet another service even if it is music and not movies / tv shows. If I listen to music on the pc I have about 86gb on the hard drive and that goes to a Pioneer Elite SC-05 to a pair of Polk bookshelf speakers. I might change my mind at some point and add a paid music service to avoid the commercials or even start using a free account regularly. But for now just not into streaming music.

ManW_TheUncool · Sep 30, 2023

Unless you actually buy a lot and quite frequently from Amazon and have their Prime Visa card for 5% back, I don't find keeping their paid Prime service worthwhile. But if you do actually do all that, then yes, I'd say it probably pays for itself -- I don't buy often enough (and rarely ever need fast shipping), but do have their Prime Visa, so I only bother reactivating for a month or maybe 2 each year... often on some free (or heavily discounted) trial... and mostly do the "no rush" shipping thing and a little binging of the small amount of exclusive video content of interest, hehheh.

Anyhoo, all that's to say you're probably better off paying for Apple Music or some other music service instead, if you really wanna stream music, unless the criteria I mentioned applies to you. But even then, you might still be better off using Apple Music, et al anyway for the music side while letting the other aspects of Amazon Prime pay for itself.

You could just do a free trial first of course. IF you're an iPhone user, then doing a free trial of Apple One probably makes a lot of sense -- and AppleTV+ probably has more, better exclusive content than Amazon Prime, especially since most of the better/best Prime shows seem to have ended now.

I wasn't that interested in streaming music in the past either, but have warmed to it in the past year, especially after Apple went lossless (and w/ much in hirez)... although I only bothered trying because the family wants to stream music...

_Man_

Dave Moritz · Oct 1, 2023

Recounted movie library and took out all the duplicates so the main library will soon have 0 duplicates. I say will so have because there may have been a title or two not removed but at the same time they where not counted. Sometime before the end of the year I will organize the duplicates in alphabetical order and make decisions on what might go. Many of the duplicates will stay in the duplicate area as backups in case something goes wrong with a disc in the main library. The majority of discs pulled out where blu-ray that where upgraded to 4K blu-ray. I have a 3D disc of Superman Returns so that will stay in duplicate and so will my previous version of Terminator 2 because of the grainless 4K release for example. And one 4K blu-ray was removed because I ordered it again not realizing I had the title in the library already on 4K blu-ray. I might just give that one away on this forum but not sure about the process yet.

Before recount
DVD 88
Bluray 258
4K bluray 473

After recount
DVD 67
Bluray 224
4K bluray 472

Will go through all the titles in my room to make sure nothing needs to be moved out to the main library that is not a duplicate. My count was off a bit on the blu-ray's but close to half where duplicates so that was deducted. The main focus was to have an accurate count of what is really in the collection in my main room. And to not have a bunch of duplicates in the main library which opens up a small space for newly added titles and upgrades. I will keep a separate tally for duplicate titles.

Unless you actually buy a lot and quite frequently from Amazon and have their Prime Visa card for 5% back, I don't find keeping their paid Prime service worthwhile.

For now I feel I order enough to keep Amazon Prime membership but that could always change. And for reasons I don't want to get into but that keeps me from getting credit cards. But I have grown use to not having them and it is always nice to not have debt. The only debt I have is the new Samsung A23 Ultra and Samsung smartwatch which I am thinking about paying off in a few months so if I need to I can walk away from cell phone service if finances nose dive. I will also be reevaluating streaming services and might be cutting back sometime soon after careful reconsideration.

Anyhoo, all that's to say you're probably better off paying for Apple Music or some other music service instead, if you really wanna stream music, unless the criteria I mentioned applies to you.

I have heard Apple Music has very good quality and so does Tidal but currently no interest in adding more monthly bills to what I already have. Also for a number of years I have focused on movies and am not listening to much music. I do have an Apple 4K TV which I might upgrade and shift the old one to my bedroom. Especially if I upgrade my older Pioneer Elite SC-05 to a newer receiver with 4K video switching.

I do not have family over very much and my living arrangement is not conducive for having friends over. Hoping to afford my own place in the near future but then the trade off is apartment living appreciate your input. I also still need to upgrade my Advent Marble speakers to matching Klipsch speakers at some point. And I am still working on the long term feasibility of adding a projector to my home theater. I only say that because I have the room now but may not have a room big enough to be able to use a projector and room on a wall for a large screen. I think it is going to be hard to find an affordable apartment that will give me the room for my large Altec Lancing speakers.

Dave Moritz · Oct 1, 2023

Library after new titles arrive aprox 10/3

DVD 67
Bluray 225
4K bluray 474

Schindler's List (4K Blu-ray, First Time Purchase)
The Thing (4K Blu-ray, First Time Purchase)
My Darling Clementine (Blu-ray, Criterion, First Time Purchase)

Possible next purchases:

Natural Born Killers (4K Blu-ray) First Time Purchase
Carlito's Way (4K Blu-ray) First Time Purchase
Zack Snyder's Justice League Trilogy (4K Blu-ray) First Time Purchase
The Sting (4K Blu-ray) Replaces HD-DVD
Scream 3 (4K Blu-ray) First Time Purchase
The Mummy (4K Blu-ray) 1932 - First Time Purchase

List may change due to pricing, availability and if I push purchase date back a week.

Dave Moritz · Oct 5, 2023

Movie purchases postponed due to some low life person taking money out of my pay card. Waiting for my replacement card to arrive then I will evaluate when the next set of movies will be purchased. I can only hope the pathetic person is caught and spends time in prison! Also no idea how long it will take them to credit my account a little over $600 the looser took from me.

Update:
I was told I would have a new card expedited Wednesday and I have a text sent to my phone from FedEx saying I am getting a delivery Monday. I am assuming that since I have no purchases coming that is my expedited card. So 5 days with no access to my funds glad the expedited the card because if they didn't how long would it have taken?

Dave Moritz · Oct 5, 2023

New list of potential choices for next group of purchases

The Longest Yard
City Of The Living Dead
Rain Man
Ronin
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Evil Dead Rise
Motel Hell
Scream VI
The Last Of Us - Complete First Season
Chucky 4 - 7
Showgirls
Big Lebowski
Enders Game
City Of The Living Dead
Roman Holiday
Prey
The Sting
It Came From Outer Space ?
The Mist
Night Of The Demons
Scream 3
The Mummy (1932)
Snow White (1937)
Megan
Pumpkinhead
Videodrome
Rosemary's Baby
Transformers: The Beast
Once Apon A Time In The Old West
High Noon
Patton
The Dirty Dozen

DVD 67
Bluray 225
4K bluray 474

These came in before my issue with someone compromising my pay card.

I am going to watch My Darling Clementine this weekend! I did not realize it but I last saw My Darling Clemintine was at the Fox lot August 25, 2015. I am thinking it was a 35mm print that I last say this movie. Looking forward to watching this movie this weekend.

Dave Moritz · Oct 6, 2023

I am going to watch My Darling Clementine this weekend! I did not realize it but I last saw My Darling Clemintine was at the Fox lot August 25, 2015. I am thinking it was a 35mm print that I last saw the last time I saw this movie. Looking forward to watching this movie this weekend.

Dave Moritz · Oct 10, 2023

Well so after being told a new card would be expedited to me it arrived 5 days later and even sat at FedEx for two days. I have my new card and am still waiting for the money to be credited back to my card. Going to call today or tomorrow to check on it because for me $500 is alot of money. New card has a chip and honestly I do not feel any safer with the chip in the card! Now I need to order a sleave to protect the card from scanners or order a new wallet that can shield the card.

Just ordered the following

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937) 4K Bluray
Rosemary's Baby (1968) 4K Bluray
Transformers: Rise Of The Beast (2023) 4K Bluray
Pumkinhead (1988) 4K Bluray
It Came From Outer Space (1953) 4K Bluray
The Sting (1973) 4K Bluray

Library After Delivery
DVD 67
Bluray 225
4K bluray 480

Have exceeded expectations on the number of titles in 4K for the year 2023 so I figure a revised goal of 490 sounds good. If I make it past that the good but Christmas is coming so maybe I should not try to push beyond 490. Will put some thought into what my goals will be for 2024. Part of that goal will be finally buying my Klipsch speakers for Atmos channels. And will also see what kind of raise I get or do not get first of the year. That will impact what I might to next year to the home theater or updating my bedroom system.

ManW_TheUncool · Oct 10, 2023

Dave,

Not completely sure about your rationale for staying away from credit cards (though I do understand why at least some avoid them... as I too, like very many others, had to learn from past mistakes, especially from/during our college days... particularly back before it was much easier to track our spending, etc w/ all the advances in tech in recent decades).

Given what you just experienced, I would say CCs are inherently (much) more secure than debit cards in actual practice, which is largely why I do the opposite and completely avoid debit cards as much as I can and rely almost entirely on CCs (even when I need to use services like PayPal).

I don't generally carry real debt w/ my CCs -- all such spending are tracked and the info easily/readily/regularly accessible to me and generally always paid off by the due dates w/ no interest costs incurred.

Although both debit cards and CCs would seem identical for security (and banks might often even tout debit cards as better/safer), the real underlying big diff between them is you're simply far more protected w/ CCs than debit cards if/when theft, etc do (likely inevitably) occur. There are at least 2 logistical/practical reasons CCs are better against theft.

With debit cards, the lost $$$ is stolen directly from your funds, which can cause other side problems for you, eg. potential unexpected bounced checks/transactions (that can be costly), possibly missing whatever minimum balance requirements (that also incur fees), etc, all of which cause a whole lot of hassle for you even if you (w/ the bank's help) can actually recover all lost funds, which is also not guaranteed.

With CCs, your liability is usually capped very low (like $50 max, if at all in actual practice) as long as you're very prompt to report discrepancies and lost cards plus, most importantly, the funds aren't stolen directly from you, but from the card company/bank/etc instead, and the card provider wants to ensure best experience for you in using their CC (likely more so than if it's just a debit card for a regular bank account w/ modest funds), so Big Corporate is actually far more invested in the whole recovery process, etc for CCs (and not leaving/sticking you w/ the loss)... plus you also won't have those other side problems w/ sudden lost funds in your account.

In my roughly 3-decade-plus experience, the theft/loss recovery process for CCs, especially in recent couple decades, are generally very painless -- and theft/loss just seems inevitable w/ both CCs and debit cards. The big, tangentially related pain would be identity theft, but relying on debit cards alone may not reduce that by much, if any at all, but might even potentially open you up to the impacts and extents of identity theft more so if/when that occurs, eg. all my CCs offer some basic related identity theft protection for free (as well as for fee, if you want better), but my regular banking (that always try to include debit cards I don't want) does not at all...

And I can tell you that I've never actually lost a single dime to theft/loss on my CCs in all those decades even though theft/loss definitely occurred now and then -- the card provider/bank (and/or maybe merchant/etc) always ate whatever cost, if any, instead. And the "recovery" process had usually been quite-to-very painless. IMHO, even transactions like those on eBay are far better protected w/ use of a particularly good CC (like Amex, which is partly why I've kept mine since my college days) -- yes, I've actually had fairly significant disputes settled seemingly far more quickly/promptly and smoothly in my favor (w/in reason of course) thanks largely to Amex's better, customer-friendly service (than other CCs), even especially when used in combo w/ PayPal, which the latter isn't that reliable/good once you need such additional help, so I always use my Amex on eBay (usually on top of PayPal) if/when there's any doubt/risk at all about a transaction, especially a sizable one.

Anyhoo, the key w/ CCs (and really, anything to do w/ personal finance) is developing and exercising good discipline and budgeting practices. The advent of all the related tech of the last couple decades definitely helps a whole lot toward that me thinks, eg. we no longer have to rely on collecting and tracking all our paper receipts, etc and then wait for a monthly statement to verify, etc... plus we can get instant alerts to card transactions nowadays (to help minimize the theft problem) and also spending thresholds reached (to help w/ the budgeting discipline aspect).

You can always tailor your CC usage to closely resemble your preferred debit card usage. For example, you can set alerts for modest spending thresholds (whether monthly or ongoing/overall) to be equivalent to your bank spending account balance (or whatever other desired amount that best suits your budget) so you'll know to stop (or adjust accordingly) as soon as you reach that limit (instead of whatever potentially higher credit limit). But yes, that does probably require a little more personal discipline than using just debit card... although IMO, using debit card until there's nothing left (and forcing you to stop) isn't exactly a great strategy, if that's what you often do.

Anyhoo, those are some thoughts on this topic off the top of my head, which I imagine most other seasoned CC users will likely agree to fair extent... but my sincere apologies if all this feels a tad intrusive or is generally unwanted, etc.

And well, definitely do hope your theft/loss recovery continues more smoothly and well... but again, I would encourage you reconsider relying exclusively/heavily on debit card usage precisely because of such (high) potential risk...

_Man_

Dave Moritz · Oct 10, 2023

So far the pay card / debit card is the only good option for me based on me owing back support. A good chunk of it is not legitimate even though the corrupt department claims otherwise. So on one had for years they have actively trashed any chance of a credit score by keeping a high amount due. Have been paying these clowns for years and years and I have the honor of paying ridiculously high interest rates tacked on. So the last time I had a bank account and they where getting monthly payments during active child support. At the same time they accessed my checking account and took 100% + what was in my account. So I totally loved having two bills bounce including a check for a ticket in Idaho.

So now I do not trust I would have money available for bills, food ect if it was in a bank account and since they keep my credit in the sewer a credit card is not in the cards, lol. And I honestly can not justify having money just sitting for a secured card. And I doubt it will do anything for my credit since I have over $25K in debt mentioned above. So unless I can hit some lottery money and pay them off 100% all at once. The lousy pay card is my best option that so far keeps me from getting my income taken from me while I still give them money.

Having my account compromised sure didn't help and I hope the funds taken are in fact covered like they said it would be. I will be calling them with my claim number in the next few days if I do not see my funds put back on my pay card. Maybe once that mess is done and over I can open another account and work on a credit score.

Dave Moritz · Oct 11, 2023

Everything arrived even Snow White even though when I placed the order it gave me a delivery date of next week for Snow White. So subtracting a title from the 4K collection because I was thinking The Sting was a new release but no, I already had it in my collection. I hate when the rerelease the same title on the same format like it is the first time it is coming out. Not happy when I found out I had it on the shelf already. The crazy thing is I have never purchased an album or movie twice until this year where I have now done it twice! Needless to say I am now going to physically write down my list the go to my library and physically check and make sure that title is not on the shelf before buying it. Looking forward to more original animated movies from Disney like the two bellow!

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937) 4K Bluray
Rosemary's Baby (1968) 4K Bluray
Transformers: Rise Of The Beast (2023) 4K Bluray
Pumkinhead (1988) 4K Bluray
It Came From Outer Space (1953) 4K Bluray
The Sting (1973) 4K Bluray

Current Library
DVD 67
Bluray 225
4K bluray 479 (-1 as The Sting was already in the library)

Dave Moritz · Oct 12, 2023

This is sad!

https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/101223-1100

Breaking / Exclusive On The Bits: Best Buy Is Exiting The Physical Media Business For Good In 2024
By: Bill Hunt

I plan to buy some exclusive steelcase releases from Best Buy. This may make a number of releases worth more money but it is also in my opinion going to effect collecting. Digital media will not have any value past the purchase cost so it will make me value my physical collection even more. And even if physical media goes away that will not translate into me shifting all purchases into digital versions. I do buy some titles digital but do not see it as the value that I see in physical media. What will this mean for lesser know films or films that are older and or films that are not as popular. What about those with dismal internet speed at home. So many movies that will not be available on streaming services. So other than Kaleidescape I doubt think there are other options that will match what Kaleidescape offers. Other than trying to replicate it with a home server with tons of storage space. Apple 4K tv does offer good quality but in the audio department it is lossy not lossless audio. So yes the general consumer could care less but what about enthusiasts?

Best Buy Steelbooks:
The Expendables 1 - 3
American Graffiti
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Spiderman Across The Spider-Verse
Enders Game
Army Of Darkness
Coco
The Guns Of Navarone

Clinton McClure · Oct 13, 2023

My local Best Buy has only had about two dozen titles on physical media for the past year so not much is changing there. Target in my city has reduced physical discs to a single quad that holds maybe 30 titles, of which only 14 spots actually had any discs last weekend.

Dave Moritz · Oct 24, 2023

Library after new order arrives
DVD 67
Bluray 225
4K bluray 483

Todays order:
Megan (4K Blu-ray)
The Mist (4K Blu-ray)
Red Dragon (4K Blu-ray) This will complete the Hanibal Lecter series all in 4K. This will also upgrade the HD-DVD to 4K.
Scream 3 (4K Blu-ray)